The burden of caring for the home prevents women from accessing social protection and other worker benefits, according to a study released by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (Pids).
In a study, titled “Towards Inclusive Social Protection Program Coverage in the Philippines: Examining Gender Disparities,” Pids Research Fellow Aubrey D. Tabuga and Research Analyst Carlos C. Cabaero said exclusion from social protection is common among those who are not in the formal labor force.
The exclusion from social protection especially affects women who, according to the Labor Force Survey released in March, accounted for nearly 40 percent of those not in the labor force. This means around 10.569 million women stay at home to attend to the needs of their respective family and household.
“So long as women are viewed as the persons responsible for looking after their family and household needs, the problem of low labor force participation rate will persist,” the authors said.
“Between formal work and family, many women would rather care for their family members. Social insurance schemes, therefore, must not be tied with having a formal work or registered business,” they added.
The authors said social protection must be available and affordable enough for workers in the informal sector. Women who are working in the informal sector are often underpaid and lack job security.
Apart from this, the authors said efforts must also be exerted in monitoring the magnitude of the informal sector in order to better craft policies that will respond to their needs.
In 2017, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said the unorganized or informal sector accounted for more than a third of the country’s total gross domestic product (GDP) of P14.48 trillion last year.
Using current prices, Assistant National Statistician Vivian R. Ilarina pegged the contribution of the informal sector to the country’s economy in 2016 at P5.013 trillion.
“For a work force that is heavily reliant on the informal sector, this [official estimates of the informal sector] is a significant barrier, because policies and programs are blind to the magnitude of the problem,” the authors said.
Meanwhile, improving efforts to monitor and estimate the contribution of women to the economy must be undertaken, according to Valerie Mercer-Blackman, economic research and regional cooperation department senior economist at the Asian Development Bank.
Mercer-Blackman said that to date, the only country that has taken these efforts seriously is Bhutan through its Gross National Happiness index. She said the GNH index is better than GDP in terms of measuring welfare.
“By quantifying the amount and value of that work, this study can be an important tool for policy makers’ efforts to advance economic development by finding ways to value and reward unpaid care work and ease the disproportionate burden borne by women,” said Mercer-Blackman.
The GNH uses time-use surveys to estimate how respondents spend their time and how they feel about it. However, Mercer-Blackman said it does still could not put a price on benefits from certain occupations.
She said while there is a belief that an occupation that receives higher pay, has a greater value for society, this is not true, especially where teachers are concerned.
“Some jobs, like teaching, cannot appropriate what externality or future benefit they create. Market prices for services do not necessarily provide the correct value because there is no adjustment for quality, divisibility and the actual revealed value that people give to them,” Mercer-Blackman said.